Dozens of bouncers could be sent on a training course as Police bid to tackle an escalating trend of drink-fuelled violence plaguing Front Street.

Doormen would be taught skills on how to handle potentially explosive situations and break up trouble as delicately as possible by using verbal rather than physical methods under the scheme.

The training sessions — which would also include self-defence techniques, first aid and fire and safety advice — are likely to last a weekend and would be compulsory for all bouncers in Front Street. The announcement comes as licensees prepare to launch a “Pubwatch” scheme to crack down on binge-drinkers causing mayhem in the City of Hamilton.

Under the initiative, troublemakers could find themselves banned from every pub and bar in the city. Every bar owner in the city has been invited to its inaugural meeting next Tuesday.

Bermuda Police Service’s liquor licensing officer, P.c. Scott Devine, said the bouncer-training project would be an intensified version of a similar operation in the UK, where doormen have been sent away for weeks to receive training.

“I’m not saying that the bouncers here are to blame for the problems,” he said. “But certain situations can escalate if people haven’t got the skills to deal with them.

“Up to 95 percent of a bouncer’s job needs to be done with his mouth. In certain situations, a good bouncer will deal with it verbally rather than throwing or kicking people out.

“The training course would improve everybody’s skills. That goes for a bouncer of 20-years’ experience and one of two-years’ experience.”

P.c. Devine stressed the scheme was not an indication of doormen’s inadequacies, but an effort to lay down a code to guarantee a professional standard across the board.

“At the moment, there are no controls or measures here,” he added. “Anyone can be a bouncer.

“If they came to us and received the training, they could have cards to show that in their back pockets.

“There needs to be a basic level of professionalism we can expect from all bouncers. For nearly everyone who enters a bar, the first person they see is the bouncer.

“We need to ensure there is a professional code — a blanket level of what is expected.”

P.c. Devine said legislation was currently in place for the regulation of security guards by Police.

For the scheme to go ahead, he would need licensees to allow him to add bouncers to the list.

He said he hoped this could be done quickly enough so that the system would be in place by the summer.

Bar owners said they would wait to hear from Police before commenting on the idea.

Anthony White, managing director at Docksiders, said: “I would be happy to hear what the Police have got to say about it.”

Chris Garland, manager at Flanagan’s Irish Pub, said he would reserve judgment until he had spoken to Police.

Mr. White and Mr. Garland both said they planned to attend the Pubwatch meeting on Tuesday.

P.c. Devine, who has mailed invitations to the meeting to licensees in the city, said he hoped there would be a good turnout.

“There certainly seems to have been a fairly positive response,” he said. “Many of the bars on Front Street are up for it and said they are going to come along, so we should have a pretty good turnout.

“It seems from speaking to them that it’s been tried before but never really carried through. Hopefully this time we can make it work.”

P.c. Devine said he had previously seen the Pubwatch scheme have a positive effect in his homeland Scotland.

If it is set up, bouncers at different venues could link up with radios to warn each other of troublemakers who could be heading their way.

He said the initiative, which would involve meetings every two months in which bar owners could discuss ways of improving safety, would be led by licensees.

Police would ask to attend on an advisory basis.

Managers who have said they will be involved so far also include Bermuda Bistro At The Beach, The Pickled Onion and The Hog Penny.

The scheme has received support from the Chamber of Commerce and the Corporation of Hamilton.

Bouncers to get training